Awards season continues with the 2019 Silver Slugger Awards handed out on Thursday evening. Here are your winners:
American League
C: Mitch Garver, Twins (1st)
1B: Carlos Santana, Indians (1st)
2B: DJ LeMahieu (1st)
3B: Alex Bregman, Astros (1st)
SS: Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox (3rd)
OF: George Springer, Astros (2nd)
OF: Mookie Betts, Red Sox (3rd)
OF: Mike Trout, Angels (7th)
DH: Nelson Cruz, Twins (3rd)
Lots of first-time winners here, but Trout sticks out the most, winning his seventh Silver Slugger. He turned 28 years old in August. How big is his trophy case now, and how big will it have to be to hold all of his hardware by the time his career is finished? Along with the Silver Sluggers, he has the 2012 AL Rookie of the Year Award, the 2012 Wilson Overall Defensive Player of the Year Award, and two AL MVP Awards. He could add another next week.
One can definitely make some arguments for some other players being more deserving at certain positions, but by and large, the right players were selected. The closest battle was LeMahieu over
José Altuve, who has five Silver Sluggers to his name. According to FanGraphs, LeMahieu had the narrow edge in wOBA, .375 to .374. Altuve out-homered him, but had fewer run sand RBI, as well as a lower batting average and on-base percentage.
Bregman could have arguably won the Silver Slugger at two positions, as J.D. Martinez did last year in the outfield and as a DH. Due to Carlos Correa missing time with an injury, Bregman played 495 innings as a shortstop as well as 806 1/3 innings at his usual spot at third base.
National League
C: J.T. Realmuto, Phillies (2nd)
1B: Freddie Freeman, Braves (1st)
2B: Ozzie Albies, Braves (1st)
3B: Anthony Rendon, Nationals (2nd)
SS: Trevor Story, Rockies (2nd)
OF: Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves (1st)
OF: Cody Bellinger, Dodgers (1st)
OF: Christian Yelich, Brewers (3rd)
P: Zack Greinke, Diamondbacks (2nd)
No surprise that Greinke took home the Silver Slugger for pitchers despite spending his final two months in the American League. Greinke mashed three homers and eight RBI with a .280 batting average.
One could certainly have made an argument for Yasmani Grandal or Willson Contreras winning over Realmuto behind the dish, as both had higher wOBA. Realmuto, however, scored the most runs and drove in the most runs out of the bunch while also swiping nine bases.
The Braves cleaned up, winning three of the eight Silver Sluggers handed out in the National League. That may be the case again in 2020… and 2021. The Braves have enviable youth.
